Emerald Fennell Talks 'Wuthering Heights' Changes From Book to Screen, Defends Her Choices

Emerald Fennell is opening up about the changes she made from the Wuthering Heights book to her new movie adaptation.

The 40-year-old wrote and directed the new film version, and there are many differences, some of which have been met with controversy.

In a new interview, Emerald talks about her decision to make changes to the material for the new movie.

Keep reading to find out more…

“It was funny, you know, I think the things that I remembered were both real and not real,” she dished to Entertainment Weekly. “So there was a certain amount of wish fulfillment in there, and there were whole characters that I’d sort of forgotten or consolidated.”

Early on, she says it became clear that she “wanted to make something that was my response and interpretation to that book and to the feeling of it” over a direct adaptation of the characters.

“When you look at not just other movie adaptations of this, but Kate Bush‘s song, or Balthus‘ lithographs, or a lot of the kind of contemporary illustrations, most of them tend to focus on Cathy and Heathcliff,” Emerald said. “Because I think that’s really the moment that draws to an end in the book.”

The filmmaker noted that this resulted in primarily focusing on the first half of the book and required her to make some “hard decisions” on what characters and plot points to include in the screenplay.

“And I think, really, I would do a mini series and encompass the whole thing over 10 hours, and it would be beautiful,” Emerald dished. “But if you’re making a movie, and you’ve got to be fairly tight, you’ve got to make those kinds of hard decisions.”

If you missed it, see what critics had to say about the new movie!